Saturday, 13 February 2010

The St Valentine's Day (Card) Massacre...

For most it is a harmless rite of passage – and one remembered with affection. But the tradition of exchanging cards on Valentine’s Day has been denied to children in one primary school.

Is ‘denied’ the right word? Shouldn’t they really be doing other things in school anyway?

Pupils have been banned from celebrating or sending cards – to protect them from the emotional trauma of being dumped. The pupils have been warned that if any cards are found or exchanged in school, they will be confiscated.

They plan to have Valentine's Day card search parties?

Headmaster Peter Turner this week wrote to parents of the 430 pupils, who are aged between five and 11, to inform them of the policy.

‘Some children and parents encourage a lot of talk about boyfriends and girlfriends,’ he said. ‘This often leads to children being upset when they are “dumped” and other fuss which interrupts their learning.

'The school believes that such ideas should wait until children are mature enough emotionally and socially to understand the commitment involved in having or being a boyfriend or girlfriend.

‘For this reason, we do not wish to see any Valentine’s Day cards in school this year. Any cards found in school will be confiscated.’

Now, shouldn't the parents be applauding this desire to concentrate on school matters?

Yes.

Are they?

Oh, no. Not all of them:

Parents condemned the ban.

The father of one eight-year-old boy said: ‘Learning about relationships and forming bonds with others is an important part of school life.

‘Children of all ages develop crushes, and Valentine’s Day is a harmless way for them to indulge those crushes in a fun manner. It helps them to learn about love in a simple way that even very young children can understand.

‘I think it’s ridiculously heavyhanded to ban Valentine’s Day and deny them the opportunity.’

The school aren't 'banning Valentine's Day' They are simply saying 'Not here, please. This is a place of learning'. Well, at least, that's what we must hope it is, though the signs aren't good....

Still, at least politicians haven't got involved and turned this into a...

Oh, FFS!

Conservative MP Ann Widdecombe also criticised the move.

‘This is a stupid thing to ban. Primary schoolchildren don’t think in adult terms and send cards as a bit of fun and mild affection,’ she said. ‘Valentine’s day is just a bit of fun to them and teachers should be worrying more about academic standards than emotionally wrapping up their pupils in cotton wool.’

They ARE worrying about their academic standards, you daft mare! They are trying to point out that school is a place for learning, not a place for celebrating every barmy 'holiday' dreamt up by Hallmark, Cadbury and Bollinger...

FFS, school isn't solely about academic instruction. It's also about social and emotional growth. Days like Valentine's give kids an opportunity to experience something a bit different, sending cards to their little sweethearts and having a little fun. What's so wrong with that? Or would you prefer schools return to the joyless knowledge machines of the Victorian era?

The head in this case is a joyless twat who is utterly missing the point of being a teacher.

What SpiteK said. It's pretty harmless at that age, and while it's nice to hear a head teacher talking about concentrating on academic standards we're talking about a primary school, yes? Not having ankle biters to refer to I've had to work backwards through my own school years and I reckon I was at primary school from about 4-5 till I was 7 or 8. There wasn't much calculus going on and the most advanced chemistry was getting the amount of water in the powdered paint right. Hallowed halls of academe it ain't, so let 'em send the bloody cards, eh? If they're going to fall out and 'unfriend' each other to use the Bookface term you're not going to stop them just by banning the cards. As long as a child can say to another that they don't like them anymore nothing short of mind control is going to be enough.

On a slight tangent WTFH is going on with education these days? Dick Puddlecote's kids are being brainwashed with politically correct literature and eco-wibble awareness, this guy banning cards, regular reports on this or that game or activity requiring close supervision or safety equipment or both, unless they simply ban it as well.....

You are right in thinking that the greetings card companies encourage this sort of thing. There are cards for every occasion, but I never find the one I need. I look for a straight forward 'Merry Christmas', but all I can find is 'Congratulations on passing your driving test on your 90th birthday.' or 'To a Special Friend' (cough cough)Anyway, kids nowadays do it electronically on face book or club penguin.

My family, nor that of my Wife, EVER send cards. UNLESS, like one of my Wifes Cousins, she is working in Peking, where it is pretty difficult to meet for a pint and a bag of pork scrathings, just to say "Merry Birthday".*

Just as I have never been inside a McDogs, Unlucky fried kitten, Turder King, or any such den of iniquity, and experimental biological poisons, I have NEVER been inside a shop that SOLELEY sells "greetings cards".

*(Note MERRY Birthday. Think about it. "Happy" is "na ja, it was O.K". Happy can be because you won 100 quid on the lottery fiddle.